Assessing the intention to use e‐book among engineering undergraduates in Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the intention of using e‐books as learning material among undergraduates from an engineering department by using the technology acceptance model (TAM) and gender as its external variable. Design/methodology/approach A survey through questionnaire was conducted to collect data from the respondents. Data from 169 respondents who had experience in using e‐book were analyzed in terms of factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Results The analysis shows that perceived ease of use is positively related to perceived usefulness. Perceived usefulness has significant effect on attitude and intention to use e‐books. Meanwhile, attitude has significant effect on intention to use. However, perceived ease of use has no significant effect on attitude towards using e‐books. In addition, gender appeared to have no significant effects either on perceived ease of use or perceived usefulness. Research limitations/implications The study did not utilize the entire TAM where actual technology use is not included in this study. Practical implications The study is important in terms of obtaining better understanding of e‐book reading intention among engineering undergraduates who are the real users of e‐books. By obtaining the respondents' perception on their intentions, action can be taken on how to motivate the non‐users of e‐books to form the intention to use e‐books. Originality/value This is believed to be the first published study of engineering undergraduates' intention on using e‐books in Universiti Putra Malaysia.